Highlights of Indian Union Budget 2018-19

Posted on: 2018-02-03 02:52:02

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley presented the Union Budget 2018-19 in Parliament on Thursday. In this budget; they are mainly focused on rural economy and creating opportunity for farmers development, the government is proposed a string of measures for agriculture sector and also announced a new national health insurance scheme where it is said to be the largest progamme in the world funded by the government which will cover 10 crore insurance for poor and marginalized families to 50 crore beneficiaries.

The budget was mostly guided by the mission to strengthen agriculture, rural development, healthcare, education, employment, MSME and infrastructure sectors. As said by the Government, this series of structural reformation will help to drive forward the people and India will be the fastest growing economies country in the world.

Here take an overview of key highlights of Budget 2018-19

No changes in personal income tax slabs.

Salaried tax-payers to get a standard deduction of Rs. 40,000 in lieu of transport allowance and "other medical expenses".

Rs. 2,000-crore fund for development of agri markets.

Health and education cess has been increased to 4 per cent

All senior citizens will now be able to claim benefit of a deduction of Rs. 50,000 for any medical insurance.

For critical illnesses, the deduction has been increased to Rs. 1,00,000

Exemption of interest income on deposits with banks and post offices to be increased from Rs. 10,000 to Rs. 50,000

Govt. announces Amrut program to focus on water supply to all households in 500 cities

Govt. to implement minimum support price for all crops; It is hiked to 1.5 times of production costs.

Govt. to contribute 12% of wages of new employees for all sectors.

Mobile phones set to be costlier as custom duty increased by 20 per cent

New flagship is introduced as National Health Protection Scheme, providing a health insurance cover of Rs. 5 lakh per family per year announced.

Railway capital expenditure for 2018-19 set at Rs. 1.48 lakh crore.

Disinvestment target for this year set at Rs. 80,000 crore.

Automatic revision of emoluments parliamentarians every five years, pegged to inflation.

Rs. 5.97 lakh crore allocation for infrastructure

10 prominent sites to be developed as Iconic tourist destinations

NITI Aayog to initiate a national programme on Artificial Intelligence (AI)

Centers of excellence to be set up on robotics, AI, Internet of things etc

100 percent deduction proposed to companies registered as Farmer Producer Companies with an annual turnover upto Rs. 100 crore on profit derived from such activities, for five years from 2018-19.

Proposal to extend reduced rate of 25 percent tax currently available for companies with turnover of less than 50 crore (in Financial Year 2015-16), to companies reporting turnover up to Rs. 250 crore in Financial Year 2016-17, it’s a benefit to micro, small and medium enterprises.

MSME enterprises are a major element for growth

More concessions for International Financial Services Centre (IFSC), to promote their trade in stock exchanges located in IFSC.

To control cash economy, payments exceeding Rs. 10,000 in cash made by trusts and institutions to be disallowed and would be subject to tax.

Infrastructure is the growth driver of economy

Target 3 lakh crore for lending under PM Mudra Yojana

Govt. will setup 2 new Schools of Planning and Architecture

At a glance, this budget for the year 2018-19 is largely focused on upliftment of agriculture sector along with major push to healthcare and education sectors in the country.